Iliana Dominick
Iliana Dominick-Harman is a major character in L.J. Smith's Night World series who makes her debut in the ninth novel, Witchlight. She is a lost witch, a Harman, the third Wild Power, and the Witch Child. She was born to play a pivotal role in uniting the witches with the shapeshifters against the Nightworld, as well as protect the world from the impending apocalypse. According to L.J. Smith's website, Iliana also holds the title of "Mistress of Air". Appearance Like her fellow Harmans, Iliana possesses silvery blond hair and violet eyes; she is described as delicate and "fairylike". She is often compared in appearance to a "white kitten", due to her loveliness and grace, as well as a fairy-tale princess (in compliment to Galen Drache's likeness to a fairy-tale prince). Personality According to legend, as the Witch Child, Iliana is presumed to be a very pure soul, and wise beyond her years. In reality, even with such attributes, Iliana is as flawed as any other person. She is often superficial and somewhat airheaded, as well as being in extreme denial over her identity as a witch and as a Wild Power, demonstrating great stubbornness. However, she is seen as being highly compassionate and loving; Keller notes that Iliana's entire high school is "in love" with her due to her gentle, helpful and kindly nature, beyond the girl's beauty. She can also be very courageous and is willing to risk her life for those she cares for, as seen when, despite hating the sight of blood, she willinging and quickly slices open her palm in an attempt to call up the blue fire to save her friend. ''Witchlight'' Iliana makes her appearance as a teenager living among humans in North Carolina; as her and her mother are lost witches, they have no idea they are in fact Harmans. Iliana is sought by both Circle Daybreak and the Nightworld as the third potential Wild Power, which according to the prophecy is a Harman witch ("one from the Hearth that still holds the spark"). She is also stated to be the legendary Witch Child, a Harman who is prophesied to marry the son of the First House of Shapeshifters and unite the two species. She is ultimately found around Christmas in a shopping mall; to Keller chagrin Iliana is found by Nightworld operatives first. She and the witch Winfrith "Winnie" Arlin spy Iliana speaking with two vampires and a third boy whom none of them can identify. Confirming Iliana's identity, an annoyed Winnie storms into the store, but the third boy blows Winnie into a wall with telepathic power, allowing a horrified Keller to deduce that the third party is a dragon (the oldest and most dangerous type of shapeshifter). Keller morphs into her panther form and attacks the dragon, Azhdeha, intending to kill him at the risk of her own life but, despite wounding him, she is removed from his throat by Galen Drache. The vampires quickly flee with Azhdeha, and Keller and her team remove Iliana after she faints inside the store. Iliana revives inside the team's limousine, but upon seeing Keller begins screaming and sobbing, convinced Keller had killed an innocent man. Galen is able to convince Iliana to accompany the team to a safe house; Keller notes that Iliana may be developing feelings for the young man. Once they arrive, Keller informs a flabbergasted Iliana about the existence of the Nightworld, as well as her true heritage as a Harman witch and the possible third Wild Power. However, when Winnie continues on against Keller's inclination, describing how Iliana is the Witch Child and that she is destined to marry the son of the First House of Shapeshifters, the lost witch goes into hysterical denial of everything. Keller is partially sympathetic, but is mostly angered by Iliana's stubbornness and concern over trivial things, calling her an "idiot". At this point, Grandma Harman arrives to see Iliana, commenting that the girl looks exactly like her own mother. The mention of Elspeth Harman also triggers a reaction from Iliana; she recognizes the name of her great-grandmother, admitting that she was so beautiful "a prince fell in love with her". Grandma Harman confirms Iliana's heritage as a Harman and recites the prophecy of the Wild Powers, which Iliana also seems to know the truth of deep down. To further convince the girl, Grandma Harman shows them all the videotape of the other Wild Powers. However,when witnessing Delos using his power to blow up boulders, Iliana's fear and denial return with full force, stating that she cannot be the Wild Power, although Grandma Harman tells her that she's the only possible Harman left to be the one. Defeated, Grandma Harman asks that Iliana at least go through with the promise ceremony to marry the shapeshifter prince at the winter solstice celebration, but Iliana launches into a nonsensical monologue about her life to drown it all out. Ultimately, the oldest of the Harmans decides they will not force Iliana into her role, and instructs Keller and her team to bring Iliana home and watch over her to protect her from the Nightworld, as well as Galen, who is revealed to be the one meant to marry Iliana. The safe house is then attacked by Nightworld operatives, along with Azhdeha; Nissa and Winnie quickly remove Iliana while Keller, Grandma Harman and Galen remain behind to fight them off. However, Iliana begins shrieking for Nissa and Winnie to go back for Keller, using her high-pitched voice to force them to turn around. Keller and the others are removed from the safe house, which had been crushed by Azhdeha's power. After being healed, Keller revives in Iliana's house, but mistakenly thinks she returned to save Galen, and Keller presses her further to accepting her fate. However, this throws Iliana, who had been concerned about Keller, into further anger and denial; she throws a stuffed animal at Keller and leaves the room. The next morning, Iliana is brought to school by Keller's team; they conduct her into the building and around the school like an undercover operation, which Iliana resents. She introduces the team to the school as her cousins, and it is here that Keller begins to see Iliana's better attributes: her love, kindness and compassion for others. At lunch, Iliana is further infuriated by Keller when the panther mistakenly attacks Iliana's friend Jaime Ashton-Hughes, who is hearing-impaired. She further displays her inner strength when, after school, Iliana and Keller witness Jaime nearly being run down by a car driven by an eagle shapeshifter. Without thinking, Iliana automatically breaks a glass beaker, cutting open her hand and trying to call up the Wild Power to stop the car and save her friend. To her misery, the girl finds herself unable to do so, although Jaime is saved by Galen. When near one another, Keller observes that Iliana and Galen look right together, even though she earlier found out that Galen is not Iliana's soulmate, but her own. Iliana receives stitches and is brought home by her family, carried to bed by Galen. She remains home from school the next day due to a cold, but is truly distraught that she had not been able to save Jaime, insisting that she honestly tried to call up the blue fire. She insists that Keller and the others seek out the true Wild Power, but Keller dismisses her assessment as more denial, pointedly adding that only the Witch Child and Wild Power is to marry Galen, something Iliana cannot do if she is neither. Initially, Iliana is also reluctant to help deduce who was trying to harm Jaime, but with Galen's prompting she joins the group to share ideas and help sort through the ancient shapeshifter scrolls for information on dragons. After some consideration, Iliana agrees to go through with the promise ceremony on two conditions. The first is to have Circle Daybreak continue to search for any other Wild Powers in case they are, as Iliana thinks, wrong about her. The second condition, to Keller's fury, is to be allowed to attend the birthday party of Jaime and her brother Brett, which is held on the same day as the solstice celebration. However, Iliana shows complete faith that Keller and the team will get her to the celebration in time after the party. As expected, at the part the team is ambushed by Azhdeha, who had used his power to shapeshift into Jaime, knocking Iliana unconscious and attempting to depart. However, he is wounded by Keller and Galen as they slowly remove his horns, the sources of the dragon's power, until one is left. Iliana regains consciousness and calls out to the now fully draconic Azhdeha, who turns towards her. She calls out his name again, along with other ancient names meaning dragon, names Iliana could never have known. Finally demonstrating her power, Iliana calls upon Hecate, the oldest witch ancestor, and summons witchlight, which changes from orange to a shining blue white. The blue fire is compared to a "supernova" which consumes Azhdeha, destroying him. The blue fire also has the effect of restoring Iliana, Keller, Galen and the others to full health; the team then quickly brings Iliana to the solstice celebration, where she is welcomed and Keller relates the story of their mission. However, on the stage, Iliana speaks with Aradia, and then calls to Keller. Slitting open Keller's hand, Iliana does the same with her own and conducts a blood-tie with the panther, making them blood-sisters and creating the alliance between witches and shapeshifters anyway, as Iliana knew Galen truly loved Keller, not her. Iliana makes her final appearance at the end of the book, where she is incredulous over the fact that Keller is talking with her infant brother, Alex. Other Stories Iliana is mentioned in both the story Thicker than Water and Ash and Mary-Lynette - Those Who Favor Fire. In Thicker than Water, the four Wild Powers (Jez Redfern, Delos Redfern, Iliana and Mal Harman), along with Lady Hannah Snow, have set out to accomplish their mission to save the world from the end of days. Keller, currently living in Harmony, a town established by Thierry Descouedres as a sanctuary for Circle Daybreak, had been nominated as Last Resort for Iliana, her blood-sister, but Keller, and Iliana's friend and former intended, Galen Drache have no choice but to remain behind while the Witch Child fights; before going, Iliana gives Keller half of a pendant bearing the Witch Child's symbol: a five-petaled flower. Keller reminisces on Iliana, in particular the girl's selflessness and genuine love for all people; she is stated to have once given away her new coat to a homeless man out of kindness. It is also revealed that Iliana was placed in cryogenic sleep until she was needed for the final battle. As Last Reosrt, Keller is the person nominated to save Iliana should the Harman girl's guardians, bodyguards and escorts fail; being a shapeshifter prince, Galen was prohibited from gaining this position himself. However, the Nightworld had managed to awaken every single dragon laid to rest since prehistoric times, the mass of which then proceeded to lay waste to the world (San Francisco and Paris are mentioned as being obliterated). Although not confirmed, because Iliana had been in Paris during the attack, she may have been killed. After Keller destroys a dragon, Whitcombe, Thierry comes to her in the hospital ward; he unfortunately tells her that there is no word on Iliana, but he returns Keller's pendant to her. Iliana's symbol is mentioned in Ash and Mary-Lynette; the symbol is found on Lupe Acevedo's silver collar. It indicates that whoever is wearing it is working directly for the Wild Powers. Appearances *''Witchlight'' *''Thicker Than Water'' (short story; mentioned by Keller) *''Ash and Mary-Lynette - Those Who Favor Fire ''(short story) Category:Characters Category:Witches Category:Females Category:Wild Powers